The blood on the throne steps wouldn’t come off my hands.
I knew it wasn’t really there.
The healers had scrubbed my skin clean. The cut on my temple was stitched. The bruise along my ribs glowed faintly where they’d poured their green-gold magic into the bone.
But every time I blinked, I saw Carrow’s body falling.
Lysa’s blade buried in his chest.
Wolves tearing into each other where they once stood shoulder to shoulder.
All because of me.
Because of the queen they hadn’t asked for.
Because of the crown that felt more like a shackle with every breath.
“Breathe,” Kael said quietly.
We were back in his wing. In our wing now, if I believed what the pack was already whispering. Guards stood outside the door. Wards hummed low in the stone. The Great Hall had been sealed for repairs a
